Page 31 of Monster's Heart

Beautiful.

Brave.

My sweet Luna.

“Professor, excuse me,” Amrin said, and I listened to her take a fortifying breath as she waited for him to acknowledge her.

“What now? Ah, yes! Miss Cordoza,” the professor said, turning to us. “You have something for me?”

“Yes, actually,” she said, and her nervousness was curious.

Truth was, I hadn’t given much thought to what results her graph would show. I’d already seen it for myself, having mapped out both our charts. We lined up perfectly. I watched as she handed the professor the folder containing her project.

“This is very thorough, Miss Cordoza!” he exclaimed, and he nodded his head to me. “Sten, good to see you. Ah, I see you introduced Miss Cordoza to your Celestial Mapping program. Very good, and very thorough, indeed. But tell me quickly now, Amrin, what did you discover?”

“Well, first, I wanted to apologize, Professor McEwan. You see, I don’t sleep well at night and I might have given you the impression there was something wrong with your class, or that I was just lazy. But with Sten’s help, I actually discovered I like Astronomy,” she confessed, bright eyes blinking up at me.

“Ah, that is wonderful news! Since you two arrived together, can I assume Sten here is filling in as your date?”

I paused, wanting to correct his assumption. I was no fill-in or pretend date. Amrin was mine. But before I had the chance to say anything, my pretty little butterfly answered for me.

“Actually, according to the chart, Sten is more than my date. He’s my, er, he’s my,” she said, pausing and looking up at me, brows furrowed. “He’s mine.”

Just like that, my sweet Luna claimed me out loud. She still did not know my truth. Still had no inkling who I really was. And yet, she claimed me.

She. Claimed. Me.

And my heart went wild for her.

“And you are mine, Luna,” I murmured, cupping her cheek and pulling her close to my body.

I rumbled as her small hands pressed against my chest. She lifted her face, smiling and pursing her lips for my kiss. I met her halfway. Claiming her lips in front of the entire festival of revelers. Cheers and catcalls abounded, but I paid them no mind.

“Well, well, I guess my little project paid off.”

I vaguely heard the professor in the background, but I was too intent on my sweet Luna to respond. She melted into my embrace, and I shivered at the contact all the way down to my soul.

“Come, sweet Luna, I have much to tell you,” I said.

“You sound funny. Formal like.”

“Sorry, I went to visit my family, and it is the way of things there.”

“You went home?” she asked, surprised as we joined Draugr and Serena as they played one of the many carnival games that were set up.

“Yes! I want the avocado!” Serena yelled, clapping as Draugr won her a giant stuffed avocado.

“I returned to Asgard to tell my family of my intentions to return to them soon and take up my position,” I explained.

“Your position? I don’t understand. I mean, I know you’re not a Hobgoblin, or whatever, but what do you mean, Sten?” Amrin stopped walking.

Serena and Draugr joined us. The big male was looking from me to Amrin and back again. He dropped his hands to his mate’s waist and pulled her against him. No doubt, he sensed the volatile nature of the discussion that was about to take place.

I looked around. There were too many people, so I took her hand and tugged her to the edge of the festival, Draugr and Serena just behind us.

“Guys? What’s going on?” Serena asked.

“Amrin, I didn’t mean to keep you in the dark,” I began. “But you see, part of the reason I came to Blackthorn was to try to gain control of my powers.”

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